Part 2 of SoulNerd Sable Verity's interview with Seattle schools blogger Melissa Westbrook:  Who the &$@#! is On First? Part 1 can be found here.


There is no simple way to write about the state of Seattle Public Schools.  Everybody agrees that SPS has issues. But which issues are most severe, how are they prioritized, and who is responsible for them?

To answer those questions, I’ve enlisted the help of community blogger Melissa Westbrook, who heads up the Seattle Public Schools Community Blog .  Westbrook is a long time SPS parent and advocate, and in 2006 was a member of the Community Advisory Committee on School Facilities and Programs for the district.

Sable Verity:  Let’s talk about the school board and this year's candidates.  Many voters question the effectiveness of the board as a decision-making body.

Melissa Westbrook:  There seems to be this perception that if every vote isn't unanimous, that something is amiss.  Does the [Seattle] City Council have totally unanimous votes?  Of course not, and people aren't saying that something is wrong.  But if the board doesn't vote lockstep, that's the perception.

Here are three real problems.  The board seems to think it is there to work with the [schools] superintendent. However, the board has one major duty and that is to hire, monitor the work of, and release (or fire) the superintendent.  They are, indeed, the superintendent's bosses and yet they all seem to shrink from that duty.

Two, the board makes policies that it doesn't enforce nor do they necessarily have enforcement power.  Their power lies in the power of their vote.  They could easily say, "We're not voting for the budget because staff have gone beyond the policy that we enacted.  Sorry."  But that doesn't happen, and so the superintendent and the staff become empowered to ignore board policy.

Three, the board hears how wildly popular, say, TOPS [K-8 school] or foreign language immersion or Montessori programs are.  And yet, it takes years to get more of them. Why? Staff put up barriers and, for some reason, the board takes what the staff says as gospel without considering that staff may have their own agenda of what they want and who they work for.

SV :  How well do the board and the superintendent work together?  I often hear rumblings that behind closed doors it's a love-hate relationship that has more hate than love.  Some say Goodloe-Johnson is often "dismissive" of the board or feels like they should back her up no matter what/ What is your take on how well they're playing together?

On that same thread, how well do board members play with each other?

MW: I find Dr. Goodloe-Johnson fairly dismissive, so I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case with the board.  And again, on the issue of backing her up, that's the internal conflict between board members; are [they] there to back her up unless she and the staff are proven totally wrong, or are [they] there to represent the interests of those who elected [them]?  I don't keep count, but I think most votes are unanimous.

[Board member] Cheryl Chow can be brittle sometimes and very stubborn.  But she's leaving.  [Board member] Harium Martin-Morris is not afraid to stand up to staff, but he doesn't do it in any particularly aggressive way.  I sometimes wonder how other board members feel about that. [Board member] Sherry Carr, [who works] at Boeing, has that kind of group decision-making as part of her DNA, but she rarely says anything about staff.  [Board members] Steve Sundquist and Peter Maier are really more booster/fact-checker board members.  [Board member] Michael DeBell is sort of the wise sage.  And  [board member] Mary Bass still continues to be mostly on the outside looking in.  I'm not sure other board members take her very seriously.

SV: Taking roles and styles into consideration, who should voters support for the open or challenged seats on the board?

MW:  “Well, if [board members] are going to be meek and not challenge the superintendent and staff to [provide] better data, better plans and better ideas, then you're right—go elect Larry, Moe and Curly.  We've had so-called "professional" boards and we've had “grassroots” boards and there are problems with both.

The reason to have a "united" board is to stand up to the superintendent and staff to direct them should they go off point as directed by Board policy.  You have seven different individuals with differing ideas of what their role is.  Sometimes you get candidates like Steve Sundquist or Peter Maier who present themselves as solid, sober citizens.  Then you can get more progressive (and aggressive) [former] members like Brita Butler-Wall and Sally Soriano, who aren't afraid to say uncomfortable things out loud.

We have four candidates left [in this year's school board elections].  In District 5, Mary Bass is a tower of integrity but she has made mistakes. But she knows the district well, knows the players well, and she does her homework—albeit sometimes too late to do any good.  She has not been good at persuasion of other directors to her viewpoint.

SV: Let’s look at District 7: Betty Patu and Wilson Chin.  Thoughts?

MW:  I interviewed Wilson Chin; I was quite surprised when he said one of his major goals is to help more minority students with support and more inclusion of their families.  I'm not surprised that he would want to do that but that he actually said it out loud.  We get a lot of "bridging the achievement gap, blah, blah, blah" but not since Darlene Flynn and, of course, Mary Bass have we heard that kind of direct acknowledgement of what needs to be done.  I think his analytic skills as a research scientist would serve him well on the Board. However, it is hard to know how much he would be influenced by outgoing director, Cheryl Chow, who endorses him and is a firm rubber-stamp for the superintendent.  This is not to say he isn't his own man, but it's a big job and he might look for guidance.

Betty declined an interview with no explanation so I only know about her from her website, news articles, etc.  ... Her speech seems to be a lot of platitudes and not a lot of specifics. ...

I think District 7 would be better served by Wilson Chin.

SV : Let’s get to the race that has everyone talking: Mary Bass and Kay Smith-Blum. Smith-Blum is leading in election results.  So who deserves to win in November?

MW :  Kay Smith-Blum is incredibly bright and energetic.  That's good because it's a draining job and 90 percent of it is meetings.  She has come out with goals and ideas.

On the one hand, great.  On the other hand, does she not understand that we have a huge strategic plan underway and various other initiatives?  We really don't have time or the money to be enacting that much new stuff.

Kay would be okay, but I do not believe she understands she would be one of seven and she seems to think that change is a lot easier than the reality is.  I wish Mary had been a stronger force on the board, but if she fought back hard enough, she could win [the election].

I have very mixed feelings on District 5.

SV :  I share that conflict.

MW :  My major issue here with the three challengers is knowledge of the district.  Charlie Mas, who didn't clear the primary in District 7, myself and a handful of other people really know this district.  I'd venture we may know it, in some ways, better than the current board.  It is not just reading up to know it.  It is knowing the programs and knowing the players.  Some board members are just now, after nearly two years, coming into their own on the board.  But kids can't wait.  [Candidates] need to be working on learning the district now and just reading the web site won't do it.  Neither will watching [school board meetings] on TV.

SV: Okay, I have to ask, since you are so knowledgeable about Seattle Public Schools and passionate about change—why don’t you run for school board?

MW:  I have considered running but the timing wasn't right and also ... there's a lot I have written that could be taken out of context.  It's a tough decision.  Currently Harium Martin-Morris is my district director and I think he does a great job.  I'm not sure I'd do that much better but if he does step down in two years, I might consider it.

SV: We’ve talked a lot about politics and problems, but what about the heart of the matter—academic success for all children, regardless of systemic barriers?

MW:  [There are] ever-present inequalities between schools, primarily because of the concentration of low-income students in certain schools coupled with many coming from immigrant families.  The differences in what PTAs bring in is huge and influences what school enhancements can be offered.  It would be great if the boundary maps changed that so that there are not more than 40 percent free and reduced lunch students at any given school.  Will it happen?  I don't know.

SV:  Is there anything else you think voters should consider as they prepare to vote?

MW: There is a district universe and a school universe.  Many SPS parents will say they don't like how the district is run but love their schools.  I think we have many great schools and programs in this district.  I wouldn't have sent my kids through if I didn't.  I think it's a waste of money to send kids to private elementary schools because we have good ones in all corners of this district.  The district does need to step in more aggressively to help or restructure schools that are consistently failing or at least figure out why.  But, for schools that are doing well, [the district needs to] get out of the way.  That would help a lot.

SoulNerd blogs at The Sable Verity , where a longer version of this interview can be found.